At a Southern California Mediation Association meeting I attended today, we heard a version of a talk that Presiding LA Superior Court Judge McCoy has been giving around the county about the effects state budget cutbacks are having on our local courts. These cuts could increase the time from filing to trial of civil cases from about 18 months currently to two or more times that long. One might think that court delays would increase the demand for alternative dispute resolution, but while that might hold true for arbitration, it does not seem to increase the demand for mediation. If we are going through a transitional period where the lag time for civil cases is increasing, that means parties have […]

I posted comments on my litigation blog on a report issued this spring by the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, which recommends a number of reforms of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, chiefly concerning limitations on discovery. This same report gives but a passing nod to alternative dispute resolution. (pp.21-22) The trial lawyers who produced this report are willing to consider what they themselves describe as “radical” changes to the discovery rules, as well as numerous other reforms. Yet, while they recognize the value of mediation, their support for it is lukewarm at best. Although the report recommends that courts raise the possibility of […]

Most lawsuits end by settlement. Mediation is increasingly being relied upon as the court’s preferred mode for reaching a settlement. Therefore, instead of being thought of as an adjunct to the “normal” litigation process, mediation needs to be better integrated into the standard procedure for processing lawsuits. Let’s start with the courthouse itself. Since most cases are never going to be resolved by trial or any other sort of courtroom procedure, why do we even call it a courthouse? Why not call it, say, a dispute resolution center? Why start the process by filing a complaint? Would it not make more sense to initiate a dispute resolution proceeding by serving one’s adversary with a paper called something like a “notice […]

Joseph C. Markowitz

Joseph C. Markowitz has published this blog, focusing on mediation and other forms of conflict resolution, since 2009. Mr. Markowitz practices law under the name "Law Offices of Joseph C. Markowitz," sharing space with three other attorneys in downtown Los Angeles. He has been in practice since 1980, emphasizing employment law, intellectual property, and general business disputes. Mr. Markowitz was trained as a mediator in 1994, and has served on one state court and two federal court mediation panels, in addition to handling private mediations. He also served as president of the Southern California Mediation Association in 2014.

For more information about Mr. Markowitz’s law and dispute resolution practice, go to jcmarkowitz.com